§ 21-28.6-15. Medical marijuana plant tags. (a) Effective January 1, 2017, the department of business regulation shall make medical marijuana tag sets available for purchase. Effective April 1, 2017, every marijuana plant, either mature or immature, grown by a registered patient or primary caregiver, must be accompanied by a physical medical marijuana tag purchased through the department of business regulation and issued by the department of business regulation to qualifying patients and primary caregivers.

(1) The department of business regulation shall charge an annual fee for each medical marijuana tag set that shall include one tag for a mature medical marijuana plant and one tag for an immature plant. If the required fee has not been paid, those medical marijuana tags shall be considered expired and invalid. The fee established by the department of business regulation shall be in accordance with the following requirements:

(i) For patient cardholders authorized to grow medical marijuana by the department of business regulation, the fee per tag set shall not exceed twenty-five dollars ($25);

(ii) For primary caregivers, the fee per tag set shall not exceed twenty-five dollars ($25);

(iii) For patients who qualify for reduced registration due to income or disability status, there shall be no fee per tag set;

(iv) For caregivers who provide care for a patient cardholder who qualifies for reduced-registration due to income or disability status, there shall be no fee per tag set for the qualifying patient; and

(v) For licensed medical marijuana cultivators, the fee per tag set shall be established in regulations promulgated by the department of business regulation.

(2) Effective January 1, 2017, the department of business regulation shall verify with the department of health that all medical marijuana tag purchases are made by qualifying patient cardholders or primary caregiver cardholders. The department of health shall provide this verification according to qualifying patients' and primary caregivers' registry identification numbers and without providing access to any applications or supporting information submitted by qualifying patients to protect patient confidentiality.

(3) Effective January 1, 2019, and thereafter, the department of business regulation shall verify with the department of health that all medical marijuana tag purchases are made by registered patient cardholders, who have notified the department of health of their election to grow medical marijuana, or primary caregiver cardholders. The department of health shall provide this verification according to qualifying patients' and primary caregivers' registry identification numbers and without providing access to any applications or supporting information submitted by qualifying patients to protect patient confidentiality.

(4) The department of business regulation shall maintain information pertaining to medical marijuana tags.

(5) All primary caregivers shall purchase at least one medical marijuana tag set for each patient under their care and all patients growing medical marijuana for themselves shall purchase at least one medical marijuana tag set.

(6) All licensed medical marijuana cultivators shall purchase at least one medical marijuana tag set or utilize a seed-to-sale tracking system.

(7) The department of business regulation shall promulgate regulations to establish a process by which medical marijuana tags may be returned. The department of business regulation may choose to reimburse a portion or the entire amount of any fees paid for medical marijuana tags that are subsequently returned.

(b) Enforcement:

(1) If a patient cardholder, primary caregiver cardholder, licensed compassion center, or licensed medical marijuana cultivator violates any provision of this chapter or the regulations promulgated hereunder as determined by the departments of business regulation or health, his or her medical marijuana tags may be revoked. In addition, the department that issued the cardholder's registration or the license may revoke the cardholder's registration or license.

(2) The department of business regulation may revoke and not reissue, pursuant to regulations, medical marijuana tags to any cardholder or licensee who is convicted of; placed on probation; whose case is filed pursuant to § 12-10-12 where the defendant pleads nolo contendere; or whose case is deferred pursuant to § 12-19-19 where the defendant pleads nolo contendere for any felony offense under chapter 28 of this title ("Rhode Island controlled substances act") or a similar offense from any other jurisdiction.

(3) If a patient cardholder, primary caregiver cardholder, licensed cooperative cultivation, compassion center, licensed medical marijuana cultivator, or any other person or entity is found to have marijuana plants, or marijuana material without valid medical marijuana tags sets or which are not tracked in accordance with regulation, the department of business regulation shall impose an administrative penalty in accordance with regulations promulgated by the department on the patient cardholder, primary caregiver cardholder, licensed cooperative cultivation, compassion center, licensed medical marijuana cultivator, or other person or entity for each untagged marijuana plant or unit of untracked marijuana material.

(4) [Deleted by P.L. 2019, ch. 88, art. 15, § 5].

History of Section. (P.L. 2016, ch. 142, art. 14, § 2; P.L. 2019, ch. 88, art. 15, § 5.)